The World of Wheels Annual Auto Show has been missing from the City of Boston for quite a few years due in part to the Covid Pandemic threat at the Seaport Auditorium. We had a chance to speak to show promoter Larry Way about the history of this coast-to-coast show stop in the Hub recently.
Way had this to say. “When we had this annual event in January every year at the now shuttered Expo, next to Carson Beach in South Boston, it was always successful. When UMass Boston bought the venue, we were forced to move our show to the Seaport Exhibition Hall on Commonwealth Pier on the first weekend in March. Even though the profits were less, we continued on.”
Way went on, ” When the new owners announced that it was shutting down and reconfigured the property to a mall shops, we were forced to leave Boston. We checked out the Mohegan Sun Casino Exhibition Hall in Connecticut which was just too small. So, we were forced to call it quits for New England. If another new adequate venue was to open up in Metro Boston, we will return in a minute.”
In another development Formula 1 Simulators of London, UK let it be known that it’s expanding into Boston sometime in early 2024 and will be located in the Seaport area. Unfortunately parking there is pretty expensive. We don’t know what the amusement company will be charging race fans and there’s a $25 parking spot in the open and in garages. That will be difficult to fork over on top of admission ticket to the amusement company. Especially during this period of heavy inflation following the Pandemic.
The motorsports 2023 season in New England will cease at the end of this month, October. Due to the present inflation and the increased costs to build new race cars and update others. We have heard that the cost of a typical Street Stock turn key is around $40,000! Not to mention big increases in track admissions and we’ll forecast that there will be a shortage of race car counts at many venues holding racing events in New England and elsewhere.
in contrast those weekly Classic Car Cruise nights and Car Shows that are currently established will do very well in 2024. Because there are just a few Car Shows that charge admissions while the Cruise Nights are always free, so far.
As an example, every other Thursday night, from April through October, at Foxboro’s Patriot Place, courtesy of the Bass Pro Shop that sponsors the MA Cruisers Club Night. With perfect weather those events are capable of drawing 2,400 vehicles, classic cars and motorcycles with estimated crowds of 8,000 fans. In my estimation, it’s the largest Cruise Night in North America.
The recent Haunted 100 at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in CT drew a banner field of 47 ACT Late Models before a sparse crowd. It’s a big deal because the shoreside oval is very deep in Modified country!
Even though NASCAR considers itself to be the most popular of all the various sanctions in the USA. They still have not recovered from the loss of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and the 2008 Recession. Just check the empty seats every weekend at those tracks around the country where they compete. I can remember when you could not buy a ticket for the Cup Series at just about every track hosting the top division. The question is will NASCAR ever recover?